A Bridge Too Far
by MandyQ
Summary: Not many come to mourn at Bellatrix Lestrange's grave. But the few who do may find bridges burned that might be built again. But do they have the tools? TDH Spoilers. Please R&R.
1. Anny, Molly

DSICLAIMER: No one, nothing, and noplace in this story belongs to me. Not one bit. However, I am writing this anyway. Since I have not made nor do I intend to make any money at all by writing this, I have a very good feeling that I will not be in any trouble for this. Please don't sue me. Thanks. :)

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"You're sure, Molly?"

"Yes, Anny, I'm sure. Now let's get up to the house before I change my mind."

"Molly…"

"An, let's go." Molly Weasley took a decisive step onto the muddy path before her and began the trek up to the castle in the distance. Her companion was shaking her head as she ambled up behind her, clutching her wrap at the neck to keep as much of the rain off of her head as she could. They passed through the gates; wrought iron and decrepit, with barely more than magic and a generation of rust holding them to their hinges. The wind whipped around the two women as the thicket of trees gave way to the open lawn of the estate.

"You know they might be here still," An thought to say as she finally caught up with her friend. Molly nodded her head, but otherwise her movement was unaltered.

"I'm not afraid of that, Andromeda," Molly said back. But then she stopped. Molly turned sharply on her heel and looked sternly at the other woman. "Are you?" she asked. Andromeda Tonks felt her mouth fall open as her friend's words struck her like a curse.

"No," she lied. Nearly all of Andromeda's living relatives just might be in that house, and she had no real desire to run into any of them. It was true that Andromeda hadn't spoken to her sister in more than two decades, but she wasn't about to let the nerves that were stirring in her gut get the best of her today. She and Molly had come here on a mission and she'd be damned if she was to be the one to chicken out. The two women began walking again, slower now, and the rain seemed to reward them for their deliberation by lessening in its intensity. An looked intently at the castle as it grew larger in the foreground, studying it for lights in the windows or smoke from a chimney; any indication of life inside its walls.

Kidwelly castle was technically a Ministry property; hence the long-open iron gate. But the castle and environs had for generations been an estate belonging to the Black family. When the property had been donated to the Ministry it had been with the condition that the family burial plot be maintained. Blacks had been laid to rest on this land for centuries and it was for similar purpose that the two women were arriving there today.

It was time to bury Bellatrix.

Andromeda's older sister had at some point gone mad, perhaps she had always been, to some extent. No matter the onset, Bellatrix Black Lestrange, the most loyal and most feared of all Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters, had died as she had lived; a murderer and a lunatic. She had killed her own niece, Andromeda's daughter, just minutes before Molly had cast the curse ending the Death Eater's life. Molly had carried the news of her mad sister's death to Andromeda just hours after the battle of Hogwarts had ended.

And there had been so many funerals. Molly had lost a son, Fred, and Andromeda had lost her only child, Nymphadora. Dora's new husband had died alongside her, and the two of them had been buried two days later. An's husband, Ted, had also been killed during the war, leaving her newborn grandson the only other surviving member of her family; well, that is, him and the Malfoys.

The Malfoys. Andromeda felt her insides tie themselves into a knot at the thought of her sister's family. Lucius Malfoy had been in her same year at Hogwarts, and one of her best friends. He had been one of the few people in Slytherin she'd ever truly trusted. She'd even solicited his advice when she had begun to develop serious feelings for muggle-born Ted. They'd stayed in touch even after she'd been disowned by her family, and hadn't lost touch until Lucius had become engaged to her younger sister; their sharing a home making correspondence between them all but impossible.

Lucius had failed to tell her that he'd become a Death Eater. She'd seen him once; almost eighteen years ago, when her only nephew had been born prematurely and her sister was in a coma and fighting for her life. Her mother and Bellatrix had drawn wands and ordered her out of the hospital room; shouting horrible things at her. Bellatrix had even alluded to wishing Nymphadora dead. Andromeda wondered if Bella had remembered that as she cast the final curse at her own blood. Lucius, for his part, had been kind to her at least. He had been stern with his orders that she not come to call again, but he hadn't ever been cruel, hadn't said a single harsh word to her. He never gave any indication of his alliance with the Dark Lord. He had not fallen into the madness the way Bellatrix had.

It had been a shock to her when she had read of Lucius' arrest and trial when Lord Voldemort had been defeated nearly a lifetime ago; and no surprise at all when he had been acquitted. Andromeda had been fully convinced that, no matter his political leanings, her friend Lucius would never have joined forces with that madman. And yet two years ago he had been caught red handed with a group of Death Eaters and had spent a year or more in Azkaban as a result. Truly, Andromeda wondered whether or not he was to be arrested again; there had been no news of his release and so she figured him to be an escapee. She could only hope that, if her sister's family was in that castle ahead, they would not take her presence as a threat.

But she mostly hoped they would not be here at all.

Bellatrix's funeral had been two nights previous; held at sundown as all Black family funerals had been in recorded history. Andromeda hadn't been to a family funeral since the funeral of her great aunt Lycoris when she was twelve years old. She remembered having stayed on the property for several days, but she wasn't ever sure if that had been common funerary practice or if that extended stay had more to do with the fact that ten-year-old Narcissa was home with a horrible flu that their mother wished to spare An and Bella. There was no telling whether or not the Malfoys might still be here at the castle, but it was Andromeda's truest hope that they had gone home already.

She knew that she was about to find out as she and Molly reached the stone front steps of the imposing castle. An had forgotten how frightening this place had looked; it was like it knew that it was a place to bring the dead. The two women looked at each other and nodded.

"Is there a caretaker or something?" Molly asked as she stepped onto stone platform and reached her hand toward the huge oak door. , "Do we knock" An shook her head.

"No," she told her friend. "No caretaker. We just turn the handle."

"Will it open?" Molly asked. Andromeda nodded.

"Even if they're here," she answered, "it's supposed to open to anyone."

"Well then," Molly affirmed, "What are we waiting for?"

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You like? Tell me please. I had this thought today and I figured writing it would be better than not writing it.

-MQ


	2. Anny, Molly: Lucius, Draco

ADDITION TO DISCLAIMER: The title of this piece is an homage to "A Bridge Too Far" by Cornelius Ryan which chronicled Operation Market Garden; a failed allied offensive in WWII. I thought it a fitting title for this piece and wanted to give credit where it was due. -MQ

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The two women stepped through the decrepit and creaking oversized door and into the cramped foyer of the castle. This room was as small as the grounds were large and the two of them had to take care not to bump into one another as they divested themselves of their coats and scarves. They hung their outer vestments over racks and knobs they were sure had been put there for such a purpose and took a few slow steps toward the open doors to the vestibule.

It was light in there; torches mounted to the walls were ablaze and several burned at regular intervals leading down the corridor straight ahead of them. "Should we follow it?" Molly asked Andromeda, looking suspiciously at the path before them. Andromeda nodded, inhaling slowly.

"If they're here, it's best that we find them," she answered.

"You're sure?" Molly asked her again. Andromeda just nodded this time. She stepped purposefully forward onto the green and purple rug that covered the stone floor of the vestibule. The two of them crossed the tall and empty room and found themselves in a wide hallway that branched off in several directions. Dark sconces lined the walls, and lit candles floated intermittently down the length of the path to their left.

"I think they're still here," An said to Molly, following were the dim light of the floating candles was leading them.

"And you're sure you're ready?" Molly asked her.

"It's now or never," Andromeda answered. "And maybe never again. But I think it's worth it to try."

"You're a far better person than I, Anny," Molly told her friend.

"You came too," Andromeda reminded her.

"That I did," Molly agreed, "but not to see them. I came here for you. I know Bella was your sister and that no matter how much you hate her for what she became that's not the person you knew. You never knew her as a Death Eater; and I didn't either. You were right to want to come. And I doubt I would have forgiven myself if I hadn't come along."

"I'm glad you're here, Molly," An affirmed. "I'm glad to have someone who knew Bella when I did, and not the way she was at the end. I couldn't have done this alone, I don't think." They had reached the last candle in the series, and it floated itself to cast light upon a doorknob on the women's right. Andromeda smiled at her companion and turned the knob.

The door opened easily and quietly. Andromeda allowed Molly to precede her into the brightly lit parlor and followed immediately, shutting the door behind her. An felt her breath catch in hr throat when she caught sight of the tall blonde gentleman at a window across the room from the doorway. "Lucius?" she heard herself say as she felt herself hiding behind Molly's shoulder.

The man turned quickly at the sound of her voice and shouted, "Father!" as soon as he saw them. Andromeda couldn't believe her eyes. This couldn't be Draco… he was a grown man- the image of his father the last time she'd seen him. "You!" Draco growled as he took a step toward the two women. His wand was drawn and he was advancing on them slowly. "What the hell do you think you're doing here, Weasley?" he asked.

"Put your wand away, Draco," An heard Lucius' calm voice insist from behind them. The elder man crossed quickly to his son and turned to look upon his guests. "We'll not resort to violence," he said, ostensibly to Draco, but looking squarely at Molly. Draco shook his head and sneered at the women.

"I'm going to check on mother," he spat, starting across the room toward the door.

"Make no mention of this to her," his father instructed. Draco nodded.

"I'm not going to talk to her," he said. "I just want to look in on her." Draco shook his head again at the women and quickly left the room.

"If you've come to gloat, Molly," Lucius began, stepping toward her, "I would ask that you leave here now. My wife and son have done nothing to you and I wish to allow them to mourn in peace."

"Lucius," Andromeda said to him, stepping out from behind her companion.

"An," he said back to her, his voice cool and even tempered.

"You're looking well," she said to him, trying nervously to make idle conversation. She and Lucius had been dear friends once, but she wasn't sure today that he wouldn't strike her dead where she stood now that his son was out of earshot.

"As are you," he replied. Clearly he was neither warming to her nor was he about to resort to wands over her presence.

"We've not come to cause trouble," she assured him.

"I suppose I believe you," he answered. "Had you come to make trouble for us you'd have drawn your wand when Draco did, but you did not."

"I can't believe how big he's gotten," An said to him. Lucius nodded.

"They do that, you know," he said back to her, "children; they grow up."

"Don't I know it," Anny affirmed. "Mine had a child of her own last month."

"How old are we?" Lucius shook his head as he mused. His whole body seemed to have relaxed a little just then and An felt herself letting out a breath she hadn't even known she was holding.

"Hard to believe we're pushing forty-five," she answered him.

"Wait until you see my wife," Lucius offered, "she doesn't look a day over thirty."

"Of course she doesn't," Molly piped up. An wasn't sure if she, too, had grown more comfortable with the atmosphere in the room, or if she just felt like she was being excluded from the conversation. "Cissy always aged in chunks," Molly added, "and only ever got better looking," she finished. "Don't you remember that, Anny? She was seven years old until one day she was twelve and she stayed twelve until one day she was suddenly sixteen."

"Why have you come here, Anny?" Lucius asked, gesturing for the women to join him in sitting near the window.

"For my sister," she answered, following his lead and taking a seat on a little leather chair facing the window.

"The one I married or the dearly departed?" Lucius asked brusquely.

"Bella," Andromeda answered him honestly.

"She killed your daughter," Lucius reminded An.

"She killed a lot of people," she reminded him by way of reply. Luicus nodded in agreement. "But I never knew that person," she said to him. "The last time I saw her she was barely older than your son is now. She was a fanatic already, but not a murderer." Molly was nodding.

"It was like she stopped being Bella Black," she said to them. "Once she was the Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange, it was like the Bella we knew was already gone." An nodded and looked over at her friend.

"But there was no way to mourn that loss," she explained to Lucius, "and now there is."

"You're welcome to visit her grave," Lucius informed both of them. "But I warn you that my wife may not be so hospitable."

"She's out there?" Molly asked, clearly horrified. Lucius nodded. "But it's pouring rain and blowing sideways outside," she exclaimed.

"Oh, I am aware," Lucius answered her. "She won't come inside," he shared. Lucius reached over to a decanter on a nearby table and poured himself a glassful of the dark brown liquid.

"For two whole days?" Andromeda asked him. Lucius nodded as he took a sip from his glass.

"I've got one of the elves out there watching her. He brings her inside whenever she falls asleep. As soon as she wakes up she's right back out there. I thought I might get her back when the rain started last night, but she still won't come in."

"Do you think I should go out there?" Andromeda asked earnestly. There had been a time when she had known her younger sister better than anyone did; a time when she could have been certain that her presence at Cissy's side would be a comfort. But now she hadn't the slightest idea if her sister would be at all comforted by her arrival and feared that she may be further damaged by it.

"As I said before," Lucius answered her, "I do not know how you may be received. But I wish you would go to her. She seemed all right," he explained candidly, "until the funeral," he added. "We went away just after the battle and she seemed to be doing well." Lucius shook his head. "As well as can be expected," he corrected himself. "But after the funeral I couldn't get her to come inside. She's lost her sister again," he shared. "She had two sisters," he recalled, "one she lost to marriage in her teens and the other to prison less than a decade later. Fourteen years after that she regained a sister, only to lose her again; this time for good. I can only guess that regaining the other might be the one thing that could soothe her."

"I'll do my best," An assured him, standing from her seat and squaring her shoulders. She turned to look Molly in the eye. They had planned for this; but barely. They had discussed briefly the possibility of a reception this pleasant, but had thought the possibility of such remote at best. "If I'm not back in three hours come out and check on me?" she asked.

"Bring Cissy inside if you have to use your wand," Molly insisted.

"Perhaps I'll try talking to her first," Andromeda answered before turning to leave.

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Please remember that reviews are crucial to my self esteem. Didn't get the cool new ob I applied for. Lousy day. More story tomorrow... maybe a better day- maybe even 2 chapters???

-MQ


	3. Cissy?  Anny?

Andromeda was not going to cry. She reminded herself of that over and over again as she trudged down the loose gravel walkway toward the Black family burial plot where she knew she would find both of her sisters. She had remained calm and straight faced through her first conversation with Lucius Malfoy in more than eighteen years and managed to keep her wits about her through not one, but two, mentions of her recently deceased daughter. If she could stand all of that in the space of five minutes, then she certainly could take a damp and disheveled Cissy.

She would cry later, she was sure; but for now she was quite aware that her emotions would do her no good in the short term. She had come here to bid a final adieu to her older sister, and perhaps to connect again to her younger one, and to let herself fall into the pieces she could feel herself forming would accomplish nothing but to make herself more miserable. There had been a time for tears and there would be again, just not tonight; not until she had said her piece to Narcissa and her farewells to Bellatrix. Only then could she break down.

Anny knew that she might need to drag Cissy bodily back into the castle and the truth was that she was in no way afraid to do so. Narcissa had always been a bit stubborn; no more so than either of her sisters, but stubborn nonetheless. Cissy was the kind of girl who always presumed herself to be correct and proper no matter the situation and it had been beyond most people ever to convince her otherwise. An and Bella had been among the few who had ever managed such a feat. She wondered if Lucius had ever developed the skill, but doubted such with increasing intensity as she rounded the final curve of the path to spot her younger sister standing among the tall obelisks and mausoleums of the Black plot. If he had any skill at talking Cissy out of mad things, then she would likely be in the safety of the warm and dry castle at this moment instead of seeming not to have the sense to come in out of the rain.

Not that one might tell it was raining by Narcissa's condition. Anny shook her head as she slowly and quietly approached her sister's position. She knew better than to sneak up on a person in a cemetery, but still she could not stop herself from wanting a better look at Narcissa. She looked impeccable. Cissy must have cast an _Impervious _charm on every inch of herself. Her dress was dry, her hair was perfectly coiffed, even the green feathers on her black hat and the fringe on her shawl seemed to be moving very little in the gusts of wind that An could feel chapping her face with every step. Leave it to Cissy to find a way to look stunning even in mourning and in a rainstorm.

An tread as lightly as she could until she was a mere few feet behind her sister. She swallowed hard, trying to remember all of the brilliant and insightful things she'd thought of to say to Cissy, but none would come.

"Why did you come here, Anny?" Narcissa asked, somehow aware of her sister's presence.

"She was my sister, too," Andromeda answered, taking an additional step until she was beside the younger woman.

"She hated you," Narcissa reminded her.

"I know that," An said back to her.

"She hated your whole family," Cissy added.

"No," An countered, "not my whole family."

"If you're referring to me and mine," Narcissa guessed, turning ninety degrees to face the newcomer, "then you're quite mistaken. You chose your family a quarter century ago and I was not part of it. We are no more sisters than Bella and Sirius were cousins."

"You're wrong, Cissy," An insisted. "I know that's not how you really feel." An looked her sister squarely in the eye. Lucius had been right; she looked much younger than her forty-three years, and still the picture of calm perfection. An had always been a little bit jealous of Narcissa's ability to look polished under any circumstances, and it was never more infuriating than at this moment when she felt like breaking down completely and Narcissa seemed fully unaffected.

"How dare you presume to tell me how I do and do not feel?" Cissy asked, an expression coming to her face that told An she was having a foul time.

"I know it was you," Anny told her sister. Mysteriously, the bills for the funeral for her daughter and son-in-law had been paid in full by someone wishing to remain anonymous. The funerals themselves had been much finer than had initially been set forth, and the floral arrangements were some of the nicest that Andromeda had ever seen. Things were handled with such elegance and refinement that Narcissa might as well have sent a card along.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about," Cissy countered, narrowing her eyes and then turning her back to Andromeda. An shook her head; she was not about to let Cissy get away with not admitting to her good deed. She may not be willing to fully reconcile with her only remaining sister, but by Merlin she'd accept her thanks.

"Don't lie, Cissy," An challenged her, "it's unladylike. And besides, it's no use. I know it was you."

"Again I say that I have no idea as to what it is that you are referring." Narcissa still did not turn to face her sister. Andromeda knew that her baby sister had never become an accomplished liar, and her refusal to look Anny in the eye was to her just that much more proof of deception.

"Why won't you just bloody well let me thank you?" An asked, walking around her sister until they were standing face to face again.

"Don't swear," was Narcissa's only reply.

"I know you paid for the funerals, Cissy," Andromeda insisted. "No one else knows about hydrangeas." Narcissa set her jaw and inhaled sharply. Hydrangeas had been one of Andromeda's favorite flowers growing up, but never on any of the occasions of her life had she been allowed to include them as part of an arrangement; her mother had a very ancient codex on the meaning of flowers and had insisted that hydrangeas were for funerals only. Anny had never told anyone of her thoughts on flowers; her life as a middle class housewife had certainly never given her occasion to need large scale floral decorations.

"And what if I did?" Narcissa spat back, raising her eyebrows and shoulders.

"Thank you," Andromeda said again slowly. She figured that was as close as she was going to get to an outright admission.

"You're welcome," Narcissa answered her through a clenched jaw. She crossed her arms over her chest and sighed heavily. "But you should be thanking my husband," she added, lowering her eyes as though she had a pressing need to examine the buttons on her sleeve.

"Lucius?" An replied. Surely it hadn't been all his doing; Narcissa had just come ery close to admitting that she had done it. Cissy nodded her head, still not looking back at her sister.

"It was his idea to send flowers in the first place," she clarified. "After that…" Narcissa sighed again. She looked up at her sister again, finally, and shrugged her shoulders. "It was nice to have something to do," she confessed. "I was away from home," she shared, "I was without my wand, and my son had stayed behind to do what he could at Hogwarts. I don't know," she added, beginning to shake her head slowly and clenching her hands into fists, "I just thought it was something you shouldn't have to handle." Andromeda nodded and allowed herself a tiny smile. "I'm sorry, by the way," Narcissa added, turning from her sister and crossing to a carved stone bench beneath a nearby tree.

"Thank you," An managed to whisper in reply as she followed suit and seated herself beside her sister. She could feel tears for her eyes and was suddenly grateful for the camouflage that the raindrops were soon to offer them.

"Did she ever tell you that I met her once?" Narcissa asked. An shook her head.

"What?" she asked in utter disbelief. Surely if Nymphadora had met Narcissa she'd have mentioned it to her parents.

"Your daughter," Narcissa confirmed, "I met her once. It was a couple of years ago. I had done something rather stupid; and I suppose rather desperate. But I had need to speak with Remus Lupin and somehow I knew that he mightn't answer were I to just extend an invite to tea. And she came to rescue him." Andromeda sniffled. She had never heard this story; but it was just like Dora to rush to the aid of her beloved. In fact, it was that very behavior that had wound up costing her her life. "I think she was quite disappointed, actually," Narcissa continued, "when I told her he was in no need of rescue and in fact quite free to go."

"Sounds like Dora," An agreed, trying her best to keep her tears out of her vioce.

"I didn't tell her who I was," Narcissa added, "perhaps she didn't know." An chuckled at that and shook her head.

"She'd have known, Cissy," she countered. Narcissa chuckled a bit at that as well.

"The Black nose," she posited, "it's both a blessing and a curse." Andromeda nodded her head.

"Do you know that I heard that once it was used as patents of inheritance?" she asked. Narcissa laughed out loud at that comment.

"I wouldn't doubt it," she agreed. "Your daughter had it too," she added, "so does Draco. Did you get a chance to see him?" Narcissa asked. Andromeda nodded.

"He drew his wand on us," she answered.

"Us?" Narcissa asked. An nodded again.

"Molly came with me," she explained.

"Molly's here?" Narcissa asked.

"I hope you don't mind," Andromeda said to her. "She wanted to come."

"No, I don't mind," Cissy allowed, shaking her head daintinly, "not really." She shifted in her seat a little and shook her head. "He really drew his wand on you?" she asked, sounding half amused.

"He did," Anny replied. "You know, I'd mistaken him for Luicus from behind," she added.

"He has gotten very tall," Narcissa agreed.

"But as soon as I saw his face…" An began again.

"Yes," Narcissa interrupted her. "He's got the Rosier chin and the Black nose," she affirmed.

"Teddy's got both as well," An shared.

"So it's true then," Narcissa turned toward her sister as she continued. "I'm someone's great aunt."

"That you are, Cissy," An agreed, "which makes me a grandmother, which is still remarkably strange."

"When did we get old, Anny?" Narcissa asked, bringing her hands to her face as though she were trying to cover any signs of age that might be visible there.

"You cannot even speak to that, Narcissa," An countered, her tears lessening as she felt herself beginning to relax a little. "Just wait until it happens to you," she added. Narcissa shook her head.

"From your lips to god's ears," she replied. "I'm not even entirely sure that Draco has any interest at all in girls. Ivy Parkinson's disaster of a daughter has been chasing him around since they were twelve and, other than some wildly inappropriate behavior two summers ago, he's had no romantic inclinations at all as far as I can tell."

"You never seemed interested in boys," An reminded her sister. "You had no time for such things at all when you were his age." Narcissa narrowed her eyes again.

"How do you know what I was like when I was his age?" she asked, her initial nastiness creeping back into her voice. "You'd been gone for more than two years by then."

"I suppose I deserved that," Andromeda answered, nodding her head.

"That and a lot worse," Narcissa corrected her.

"Perhaps," Andromeda half-agreed. She knew that they had years of bitterness to get through; and that they might never get through it. But she also knew that there was no way this conversation could come to any meaningful end out here in the blowing rain. "And I'm wiling to take anything you'd like to dish out to me, if you'll hear me out as well."

"I'm listening, " Narcissa allowed. Andromeda shook her head.

"Not here," she insisted. "We should go inside."

"I can't," Narcissa answered her, standing very abruptly and stepping toward the polished marble vault where Bellatrix lay. "I just can't," Narcissa asserted, wringing her hands and staring at the rain-soaked stone.

"Please, Cissy," an asked, rising herself and walking up behind her. She placed her hand on her sister's shoulder before she continued. "Please come inside," she implored. "Lucius is so concerned about you that he was just civil to a member of the Weasley family." Narcissa sniffled and chuckled at the same time.

"That's not at all like him," she observed.

"There's a first time for everything," An kidded. Narcissa laughed again and tuned to look at her sister.

"That poor man," Narcissa sighed. "He's been through so much. I haven't meant to distress him."

"Just come in out of the rain, Cissy," An requested again. "Have a meal, change your dress…"

"Alright," Narcissa agreed, her face clearly showing her distress at leaving her sister's final resting place. "Let's go inside."

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Long chapter? Let me know you were here, please. :) Cheers!

-MQ


	4. Anny, Lucius

Andromeda ambled back into the castle's small parlor combing the knots out of her hair with her fingers. She was wet, and she was cold, and she was sad but she was hopeful. She'd had a conversation with her baby sister for the first time in more than twenty years and it had gone better than she had been willing to hope that it would. An crossed the red and sepia-colored rug to where she could see that Lucius was still sitting. He nodded his head once to acknowledge her arrival, but he did not speak.

"Where's Molly?" An asked, seating herself in a chair to her brother-in-law's right. Lucius shook his head and took a sip from the drink in his hand

"She insisted that she be shown to the kitchens," he answered. "I told her that we have house-elves for that but she was hearing none of it."

"Oh dear," An said back to him. She shook her head as well. "She's going to try to cook," she offered, "and she'll be eight kinds of unraveled when she discovers she's hurt their feelings."

"I would like to imagine that you're kidding," Lucius said to her, turning in his chair so that he could see his guest, "but I am convinced that you are not."

"Molly never had a house-elf," An reminded him.

"She was a Prewett," Lucius asserted.

"A Prewett, yes," An allowed, "but her father was a third son of a third son. They were out of elves to inherit by the time her parents were married."

"Oh my," Lucius said back to her, frowning. It was clear to Andromeda that Lucius found the idea of growing up without elves in the house to be quite distasteful. "Were you able to make any progress with my wife?" Lucius asked her, gesturing to her damp clothes and matted hair. Andromeda nodded.

"She's gone to change her dress," she answered. "She'll be down shortly." Luicus took in a deep breath .

"Oh thank Merlin," he sighed. "How did you talk her back inside?"

"I told her you were so worried about her that you'd been pleasant to a Weasley," Anny confessed. Lucius threw back his head and laughed softly at that.

"We always were a good team, Anny," Lucius recalled.

"Looks like we haven't lost it," she commented. "After all this time." It was surreal to Andromeda to be sitting across from her old friend like this; chatting as though nothing had transpired in the last twenty-odd years to keep them from each other's lives. Lucius smiled at her again and then she watched as his face fell.

"Anny, I'm so sorry," he said to her. An tilted her head ad looked at her friend. "I wish I'd had a chance to know your daughter," he shared. "Mudblood or no…" he looked at her and shook his head. "I was very selfish," he admitted.

"Of course you were," An said back to him. "We were young. Young people can be that way. Young wealthy people barely have a choice. Hell; I was selfish too, Lucius. I shouldn't have lied to you."

"Anny, of course you should have. You did the right thing. If you'd have come to me you know what I would have said. And what if I'd talked you into something?" An shrugged her shoulders. She'd had this fight with herself a thousand times over the years and it was really cathartic to be having it with someone else.

"You were my best friend, Lucius," she reminded him. "But think about it; when were you ever able to talk me out of anything?" Lucius shrugged his shoulders. It was the truth. How many times while they were at school had she gone to him with some hare-brained idea that he had tried to dissuade her from? And how often had he succeeded?

"I suppose you have a point," Luicus allowed, "but still I'm glad you didn't tell me. I might have tried to stop you."

"You might have," she agreed. "But you'd have failed."

"Perhaps," he answered. "But we would not have been in touch after that," he posited. "As it was, you ran off and then you wrote to me. And I wrote back to you," he reminded her. "I maintained access to your assistance in my maddening although eventually successful pursuit of your sister, and you were able to know what was going on in the lives of those of your family and friends whom you would not otherwise have heard from."

"That is true," An said back to him. "Perhaps things were for the best."

"Perhaps," Lucius repeated, "although I must say again that I regret having never met your daughter."

"You'd have liked my Dora," An told him. "Do you remember in second year when Slughorn gave us that lecture about how someday we'd have children of our own and then we'd get our comeuppance?" Lucius nodded .

"I believe that was the time we'd poured babbling beverage onto the sorting hat just before the welcome feast?" he recalled. An nodded, laughing loudly.

"Oh, the look on McGonnagall's face when the hat started to sing a whole string of nonsense!" she remembered. "It really was priceless." She quieted her laughter and looked at Lucius, they were both smiling. "I thought of that episode often when Nymphadora was little. She was quite a handful. When she went off to school and was sorted into Hufflepuff like her father had been I heaved a very heavy sigh of relief. The Hufflepuffs were always the best behaved of the lot."

"Only because, during our years of schooling, Ravenclaw was populate entirely with alcoholics," Lucius reminded her.

"That is true," she allowed. "I suppose Draco was in Slytherin?" she asked. Lucius nodded, reaching to the table beside him to refill his glass from the decanter.

"Drink?" he offered.

"Please," she answered, reaching out to take a glass from his hand.

"Yes," Lucius told her, pouring the rich-smelling firewhiskey into her glass and then his own, "Draco was in Slytherin just like every other Malfoy and nearly every Black before him. Although I must say that I got lucky," he added.

"Lucky, Lucius?" she asked for clarification.

"Draco takes after his mother," he said. "Oh, he's as arrogant as I ever was," he added, "but he's not into the kind of mischief I used to undertake."

"Yes," An affirmed, taking a tiny sip from her glass of firewhiskey. "Cissy mentioned that he's not been the playboy you used to be."

"No, no," Lucius agreed, sipping from his own glass. "I believe he's inherited his mother's preferences in such matters."

"How anyone could prefer celibacy…?" An commented, shaking her head.

"He's just very discerning," he shared. "Although I mush admit that I'm rather relieved that he's been so well behaved. I just don't know how Narcissa would have taken it if things had gone otherwise."

"She'd never have known," An posited. "She couldn't have conceived of it."

"You don't think?" Lucius allowed. "You know she sees right through him."

"Of course she does," An agreed, "she's his mother. But she would never have let herself see any behavior in her perfect child that she didn't feel herself capable of. Ted was like that. No matter what ornery behavior Nymphadora might be up to, Ted wouldn't believe me when I 'd caught her red handed."

"Lucky him," Luicus joked in reply.

"Lucky you that your only child behaves himself," she answered back.

"Speaking of which…" Lucius asserted, waving his hand in the direction of the door. An turned in her chair just in time to see Draco Malfoy closing the door behind him.

"Hello Father," Draco greeted.

"Come and have a seat," Lucius beckoned to his son. "I don't believe the two of you have been properly introduced."

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More soon... like tonight or tomorrow; I'm going to a party tonight- and I'll get yo use my Narcissa Mii :) YAY!

Please review, it makes me happy.

-MQ


	5. Draco, Father, Aunt?

Introductions had gone as well as could be expected. Andromeda hadn't thought Draco would be openly hostile to her, but she had also arrived with no illusions as to his desire to form a relationship with her. He was cordial, at least, and was willing to join his father and aunt in the chairs before the parlor windows.

"I heard mum upstairs," Draco told his father as he settled into the chair across from Andromeda. Lucius nodded as he poured his son a drink from the same bottle he and Andromeda were enjoying. "Is it true that Mrs. Weasley is cooking us dinner?" Draco asked, taking a sip from his glass.

"It appears to be that way, son," Lucius answered him. Anny nodded. Draco shook his head.

"I heard mum up there trying to talk down Lollie," he explained. Draco looked at his aunt. "have you ever dealt with an unhappy house elf?" he asked her, half rhetorically. An shook her head.

"Never had the privilege," she replied.

"It's a nightmare," Draco informed her. "I'm not entirely convinced that all of the work Dobby did made it worth having him in the house."

"Dobby?" An asked. "Grandfather's Dobby?" She supposed it could be possible that there was more than one elf in the world named Dobby; but she also had to admit that it was just as possible that the elf who had served her father's parents could have come to serve in the Malfoy household. Lucius was nodding his head at her.

"You missed that period in our lives, Anny," Lucius said to her. "Your grandparents' elf came to us as part of Narcissa's dowry." Lucius was shaking his head still. An could tell that he was annoyed at the memory. She shook her own head and chuckled under her breath.

"I'm guessing you weren't the one to demand such a thing?" she asked him. Lucius grinned and shook his head a little quicker.

"No," he answered succinctly. He rolled his eyes and sighed, looking her in the eye as he continued. "I found the entire concept asinine," he explained. "I wanted to marry Narcissa; we weren't being forced into a marriage. I'd never heard of such a thing outside of arranged weddings and, frankly, I found the whole thing insulting. It's as though your father didn't think Narcissa was treasure enough in and of herself. That's preposterous. But the truth is, I'd have done anything to have your father's blessing and so I accepted whatever it was that arrived at the manor. I'm still not sure what all was there; I don't care. But Dobby was rather hard not to notice."

"Well," An said back to him, taking another sip of the warm brown liquid in her glass. "I can tell you that you have Anatol Lestrange to thank for that ordeal," she informed him.

"Lestrange?" Draco piped up. "As in aunt Bella's father-in-law?" he asked for clarification. An nodded.

"Oh yes," An answered him.

"Bella's dowry was discussed," Lucius recalled, "but I must admit that I was scarcely paying attention." An chuckled at him.

"You weren't there that summer," An told him. "You and your father had gone to Belize. Bella and Roddy got engaged over a bottle of gin the week after Bella left school. Well, our parents were surely happy enough, and Lestrange was beside himself with glee when he found out. He insisted on throwing some lavish and well-ordered party that, I suppose, was some sort of ancient tradition in their family. There was a protocol manual messengered to our house." An took another drink and shook her head. "You knew my father, Lucius, you remember how he felt about pretension…?" She laughed a little under her breath. "Well, he read the bit about the very precise exchange of dowry just before Anatol and Ursuline Lestrange came for dinner. Father had presumed that they would be able to discuss the rituals of the engagement festivities, but as soon as he brought it up, Lestrange made it very clear that things were not up for negotiation. But then he went into some great oratory about how the dowry was only symbolic and that there certainly needn't be much substance to it. My father was so insulted by the insinuation that there was nothing that he could give his daughter's intended's family that would be of any value to them that he went simply mad with this dowry. There was gold, of course, and jewels and property; I think there was a small island involved in the exchange."

"An island?" Lucius asked. An nodded her head.

"I think," she affirmed. "You should know shortly, Lucius," she added. "It all should be Draco's by now."

"Mine?" Draco asked, nearly choking on the whiskey in his mouth. Andromeda nodded at her nephew.

"Yes, Draco," she answered him. "You're the last male descendant of the Black line," she explained. "You should inherit everything."

"But I'm not the last," Draco reminded her. "I mean," he frowned for a second. "don't you have a grandson?" he finished, shrugging his shoulders.

"Yes," An affirmed, "but I was officially disowned," she added, "so if Teddy is ever going to inherit anything it will have to be expressly bequeathed to him by one of the living relatives." She smiled and shrugged herself. "But that's no real matter. I believe I was disparaging Lestrange…?" she asked the two men, trying to steer the subject away from death and disinheritance.

"I believe you were," Lucius agreed with her. "So Lestrange got a rather sizeable fortune from your father during that ceremony?" he asked, getting the conversation back on track. Anny nodded her head.

"You should have seen the look on that awful man's face when wealth upon wealth was piled before him. Father was so very proud of himself. Lestrange didn't know whether he had ought to feel pleased or humiliated. After that debacle, you can only imagine the back and forth that happened over the wedding itself."

"Aunt Bella said she eloped," Draco inserted. Andromeda nodded.

"Their wedding was scheduled for January," She explained to her nephew. "But the truth is that neither of them could stand our parents for another minute. One weekend in August Cissy and I got a bolt of fabric, an appointment with Duchess Weft's and a portkey; and everyone else got an owl. We arrived in Capri late in the morning and they were married at two in the afternoon." Draco was laughing now.

"What did everyone have to say about that?" he asked.

"There wasn't much anyone could say," Lucius answered his son. "They were married at that point and there wasn't a damned thing that either set of parents could do about it."

"Exactly," Anny affirmed. "But unfortunately Cissy and I had to endure every minute of the madness that went in to planning the engagement party and the wedding. And even more unfortunately, Narcissa loved every minute of it. She was so thrilled by every detail. I mean, she was fourteen and the idea of a wedding was about the most fantastic thing she could think of." Andromeda leaned forward in her chair and looked Draco in the eye. "She took notes," she shared. An turned back to Lucius. "And Cissy always had a sort of inferiority complex," she explained. "Being the youngest, she always felt like she wasn't up to whatever Bella and I were. She was the last one to go to school, the last to be allowed to wear makeup, the last to be allowed to go out with boys…. I can only imagine that, when it came time for the two of you to marry, father felt like he had to make sure that everything about your wedding lived up to Cissy's fantasy of what Bella's was supposed to have been like."

"She did say that she was the one chance that her family had to get a wedding right," Lucius recalled.

"I saw the pictures," Andromeda told them. "The three page spread in _The Daily Prophet_," she finished.

"There are better ones in the album in the living room," Draco told her.

"I didn't know you'd ever looked at that album," the three of them heard Narcissa's unmistakable voice tell her son from the doorway. Andromeda smiled as she watched her brother-in-law's face light up at the sound of his wife's voice. Draco stood immediately as his mother came further into the room. Lucius stood as well and reached his hand out to her as she crossed to where the three of them were seated.

"Hello dearest," Lucius said to her.

"Hello love," Narcissa replied to him. She nodded her head toward her son and then her sister. "Draco, An," she greeted them. She allowed Lucius to kiss her temple before seating herself in the chair he indicated. Lucius stood behind her, leaning against the back of the chair with his glass in one hand and his wife's hand in the other.

"How are you feeling?" Draco asked his mother once she was seated. Narcissa smiled at him and squeezed her husband's hand.

"I'm all right," she allowed. "A little concerned," she added, "as I was immediately accosted by the staff with the fact that Molly Weasley has ousted them from the kitchens and will be making dinner herself."

"We were just discussing unhappy house elves," Andromeda told her sister. "Perhaps I can get Molly to apologize," she suggested.

"Leave it," Narcissa instructed her. "They just needed a little reassurance."

"Do we have a time frame for dinner yet?" Draco asked his mother. Narcissa shook her head.

"I didn't want to ask," she answered.

"Let me go and check," Andromeda offered. "Perhaps I can encourage Molly to allow your staff back into the kitchen."

"That would be a great help, An," Lucius answered her. Narcissa nodded.

"Excuse me then," An offered as she rose from her chair and headed off to find the kitchens.

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Thanks for the reviews so far and thanks for your patience with the long time between updates. My bad- well... bad internet. More tomorrow unless the power goes out- it's out on all sides of our town but not here. You know I love reviews... HINT.

-MQ


	6. Mother, Father, Son, and

Andromeda hadn't too much difficulty finding Molly and the kitchens. She had easily followed the sounds of indignant house elves through the rear corridor and down a cramped and chilly flight of stone stairs until the smell of roasting chickens led her the rest of the way. The elves made no secret of the fact that they were greatly insulted by their position in the house having been usurped by a witch with no elves of her own. Molly was constantly grumbling that there was scarcely anything in the house that would qualify in her world as food, and the row of unhappy house elves on the bench by the hearth were lobbing insults at her for such comments. Apparently the Malfoys' staff, along with them from Witshire, had planned a full five courses out of what there was in the castle's kitchens, and they were doubly insulted that Molly Weasley would not let them lift a finger to do their job for their family.

Other than the report that dinner would be ready in short order, and an endless string of complaints, Anny was able to get precious little information out of her friend. She gave up after a few minutes of trying to convince Molly to allow the staff to assist and retreated from the kitchen promptly when Molly's voice began to approach a fever pitch at the contention that she might benefit from assistance with preparing a meal. Anny slipped as quietly as she could back up the stairs and toward the parlor where the others were likely to still be.

The parlor door wasn't fully closed, and as she approached she was able to clearly make out the voices of the people inside. She felt a bit guilty at the eavesdropping, but she figured it best to let them finish their conversation without interruption.

"No, Draco," she heard Cissy saying to her son, "you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. If you'd like, you can take your supper in your rooms. Or, conversely, if the two of you get on well and you'd like to stay in touch; I won't mind that either."

"I must say I'm surprised at you, love," Lucius said to his wife. "I wouldn't have thought you so ready to invite her back in to your life."

"I don't know," Narcissa replied. "I can't really say that I am. But I also can't imagine being nasty to her. I never let myself think about what it might be like if I ever saw her again. And the truth of the matter is that, thinking about it now, I suppose she deserves to be as abandoned by me as I was by her when I was sixteen. But no one deserves to go through what she's been through," she added. An heard her sister sniffle before she continued. "Anny has just lived through the thing that I've been most frightened might happen to me these last few years. She's lost her husband and her daughter and her son-in-law…" Cissy paused again. "I'm the only kin she has anymore, aside from an infant she's been left to care for alone. I can't say what I'd do were I to be in her position."

"And you're sure she's not just here to make a fool of you?" Draco asked his mother, his suspicion of their visitor clear in his voice.

"I don't know," Narcissa admitted.

"Aunt Bella wouldn't want her here," Draco reminded her.

"No," his mother agreed. "Aunt Bella hated her outright," she added. "Bella hated anything that went against Lord Voldemort," she clarified, "and she hated anyone and anything that had ever done me harm. For those reasons alone she likely hated Andromeda more than she hated muggles. But Bella's not here," she added.

"You do know it was Weasley's mum?" Draco asked. An felt her breath catch in her throat. Had anyone told Cissy that Molly had been the one to fell the fatal blow on their older sister?

"Your father can't keep the paper from me all of the time," Narcissa answered. An felt her face screw itself into a grimace. She hadn't thought about the coverage in _The Daily Prophet_. Narcissa had likely read about the medal Molly was to receive for her actions at the battle of Hogwarts. She hadn't stopped to consider that at all.

"Narcissa, I…" An heard Lucius attempting to defend himself.

"It's all right, Lucius," his wife said back to him. "I know you do it to protect me. That's something that you and Bella always had in common."

"So what are we going to do?" Draco asked his parents.

"We're going to have dinner, son," Lucius informed him. "We're going to sit around the table and we are going to behave ourselves. If we could share a meal with half a dozen Death Eaters who, by the end of things, would just as soon have killed us as looked at us, then we can certainly stand to sit across the table from Anny Black and Molly Prewett for half an hour."

"Your father's right," Narcissa agreed. "If there's one thing this family can still speak to, it's good table manners." Was she serious… or was she trying for levity? "And as to your earlier question," she added. "I honestly don't know the answer. I don't have any idea how I feel about it. I suppose there are several more funerals and weeks and months to get through before I'll be thinking clearly enough to consider anything. But I do know that you're a grown man," she told him. "And you may feel free to make your own assessment. Form your own opinions, Draco," she encouraged, " and no matter what decision I come to, you're welcome to do as you wish."

There was a clanking of glass and the sound of a log falling on the fire. An reached her hand toward the door but stopped herself as she heard her sister's voice again.

"You've been awfully quiet on the subject, darling," she addressed to her husband. "You've not said one way or another how you feel about the sudden arrival my sister back into our lives." An was sure she could picture the look on Lucius' face at that comment. He had never done well with confrontation and she had no idea how he would handle being put on the spot by his beloved wife.

"Well," Lucius answered, sucking in a tense breath and audibly adjusting himself in his chair. "You know An and I were friends," he said to her.

"You were more than friends, Lucius," his wife corrected him. "You were practically inseparable."

"We were close," Lucius admitted. "But you know very well that I disapproved of her relationship with that man she married. She betrayed all of us when she chose the life she did. And we certainly don't know each other as adults. But I know that she loved you; and I know that she wouldn't be here if she didn't think there was something to rebuild. And I also know that we've all been through an awful lot in the last year, Andromeda included, and that it's not altogether over, that it may be years before we're fully aware of all of the damage that was done to us over the past several months. With that in mind, I'm willing to make peace with anyone who wants it at the moment."

"fair enough," Narcissa sighed. An reached out and pushed open the door as noisily as she could and made her way back into the room. Lucius and Draco stood quickly to greet her and Lucius offered his chair to his sister-in-law. Andromeda smiled at him and took a seat in the proffered chair.

"Molly says that dinner will be ready in less than a quarter of an hour," She told the three of them. "She complained a bit that there was no food in the pantry," she shared, "which frightens me as to what exactly she has managed to cook; but she swears that everything is fine and that we'll be ready to eat in short order. I suppose I should also apologize to you for her treatment of your staff," she added.

"Oh, never mind that," Draco insisted.

"Draco," his mother chided him. "You would do well to remember the damage that a disloyal elf could do." Narcissa dipped her head toward her son and then quietly continued sipping her drink.

"Perhaps Kibbitt and Lollie could be convinced to pair the wines for the meal," Lucius suggested.

"Perhaps," An agreed, "but I doubt Molly has cooked with wine pairings in mind."

"No matter," Narcissa insisted. "I'd wager that our little Kibbitt is as fine a sommelier as any at Haught and Aristo. And I can only hope that will be enough to make them forget about being neglected." She shrugged her shoulders and set her glass on the nearest table. "But if dinner is to be so soon," she added, "I should excuse myself to dress."

"Cissy," An countered, "you've just changed your dress," she reminded her sister. Narcissa shook her head as she stood up.

"I am going to dress for dinner," she insisted. Narcissa turned and took a decisive step toward the door.

"I should dress as well," Lucius declared, also standing. He strode quickly to his wife's side and threaded her hand through his arm. "If you'll excuse us," he offered to An and Draco with a nod of his head before turning to leave.

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I AM SO SORRY to all of you who have had to wait all this time for this chapter. I needed (and now have ) a real word processor on my new machine and was unable to do anything until I got it. I am hoping to have the next 3 or so chapters up before tomorrow night... please forgive me

-MQ


	7. Aunt and Nephew

Once Lucius and Narcissa had passed through the door, An felt a palpable and uncomfortable silence descending upon herself and Draco almost immediately. She shifted in her seat and sighed, biting her lip and trying to bring a smile to her face. Draco reminded her so much of Lucius when he was younger, and she wondered to herself how it was that she could be so nervous around him. Draco was staring into his glass and frowning up at her in turn and she decided that finding a way of breaking the silence would be a better use of her time than wondering just why he was frowning.

"Your mother really did look fine," she said to him: as good an opener as any, she figured. Draco quirked his lip at her and shook his head.

"That's not really the point," he replied. "She'll change her dress," he allowed, "but that's barely an excuse."

"Really?" she asked him. Draco nodded.

"Far as I can tell," he offered, "she's not altogether ready to face Weasley's mum."

"I suppose that's a valid theory," An agreed with him. Draco nodded again.

"She always does better in a difficult situation when she walks into it feeling like she looks perfect," he shared. "So she'll change her dress," he continued, "put on no small amount of expensive but tasteful jewelry, call Ooble in there to make her hair perfect, and stare at herself in the mirror until she's completely certain that she's the most beautiful witch in the British Isles. Father will change his waistcoat and cravat and do whatever he can to convince her that everything will be all right; even when he's not entirely sure that's true."

"You're mightily insightful, Draco," An told him. He shrugged and leaned forward to refill his glass from the decanter.

"I just know them," he countered. "That's just how they are."

"He takes care of her," she observed. Draco shook his head as he leaned back in his seat again.

"They take care of each other," he corrected. "_We_ take care of one another," he added, "that's what families do." An felt herself shudder at that comment. She sighed heavily and cast her eyes down at the floor.

"You hate me, don't you, Draco?" she asked. An had often wondered over the past several years just what her nephew thought of her, and she figured it would be better to know now while she had the chance than to wonder any longer.

"I don't bloody well know you well enough to hate you," he answered her. "I'd never even been sure you existed until three summers ago," he added.

"Your mother mentioned me to you?" she asked, shocked at the revelation. She'd never thought to hope that her name had been uttered in her sister's house. Draco shook his head.

"My father did," he corrected her. "He told me some story about An Black's beach party, and I'll admit that I wasn't sure exactly who you were, but I figured it out eventually."

"Really?" An asked her nephew. She was getting more and more curious as to just what Draco had been told about her.

"Yeah," he replied. "I remember seeing the burnt out places on the family tree at aunt Burgie's house, and I could never get anyone to tell me about the one between mum and aunt Bella, who everyone always spoke of in whispers in light of the fact she was locked up in Azkaban. But three summers ago, dad and I were at the Coventry house taking dueling practice…"

"The Coventry house?" Andromeda interrupted him. She knew the Malfoys' manor was in Wiltshire; what was this about a house in Coventry? She felt her breath catch in her throat at the thought that he could be thinking about the house she grew up in. Draco was nodding his head.

"The one you and mum grew up in, yeah," he confirmed for her. An felt herself let out a breath as it occurred to her how relieved she was that her childhood home was still in the family. It made sense, come to think of it. Draco Malfoy was the last descendant of the Black family from several directions. Cissy's only son stood to inherit a great deal from several, even distant, cousins so his having inherited the Black estate in Coventry really shouldn't have been any surprise to her. "Father bought it for me before I was born," he shared.

"Bought it for you?" she asked for clarification. That part made no sense at all.

"When Grandfather died, Grandma D'ella had decided to sell the place," he informed his aunt. "And so my father bought it through an agent; she didn't know who the buyer was, but it was put in mother's name until I turned seventeen and now it's mine."

"I'm glad it's yours," she told him. "I'm glad it's in the family." Draco quirked his eyebrows at her and shrugged his shoulders. "Draco," An said, her own instant revelation quite clear in her voice.

"Yes?" he answered back suspiciously.

"You remember the family tree hanging in uncle Orion and aunt Walburga's house?" she asked. He had mentioned the tapestry barely a moment ago, but she had to get this straight in her head.

"Grandma D'ella and Aunt Burgie used to tell me stories about all of the people on it," he answered. "It was like they wanted me to learn every detail about every person I'm related to through them."

"It worked on your mother," Andromeda told her nephew. "Cissy could tell you everything about everyone on there by the time she was six." She grinned at the memory of her sister's pride in the ability to recite the names of the past seven generations of her progenitors and how thrilled she'd been when rewarded for such with an extra plate of ice cream. "The reason I ask you, Draco," An got back to the topic at hand, "is that I might be able to get it for you." She was sure that Draco would be surprised at the information she was about to share with him; she had been quite surprised herself when she had learned in just whose possession the house in Grimmauld Place and its accompanying tapestry.

"How's that?" Draco asked. It was clear to An that her nephew was as confused as she thought he might be at her offer.

"The house in London belongs to my grandson's godfather now," she told him. She wondered for a second if he would be curious as to the story of just how Harry Potter came to be in possession of the house and its accoutrements, but it also occurred to her that perhaps Draco didn't know that her grandson's godfather was Harry Potter. She did know from her few conversations with Harry that he and her nephew were no particular friends, but he had seemed a decent enough fellow to allow her to remove the family heirloom from his property and present it to her nephew or whomever she pleased. It was worth it to her to tell Draco just how this was possible; she hoped it might get him to trust her a little. "It seems my cousin Sirius wasn't properly disinherited," she shared. "When he ran off, his father simply changed his will to leave everything to his younger son, Regulus. But Reg died in 1979, and his father and my father right afterward. So uncle Orion hadn't the chance to designate another inheritor. Aunt Walburga obviously kept possession until she died, but then it was found out that neither her nor her husband had done the work required to see to it that the property wouldn't revert to Sirius once she was dead. The result was that the house was his. Of course, he was locked in Azkaban by then, but he was notified of his inheritance and he moved in once he got out."

"Escaped," Draco corrected her.

"Yes," An allowed, "that's what I meant." She took a deep breath and continued. "He and a few of his friends lived there, and they even used it as a sort of headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, you do know what that was, don't you?" she asked him. Draco nodded his head, but made no further attempt at response. "I remember," Andromeda continued, "the first time Dora had ever been over and she started in on telling me about the heads of house-elves on the wall in the stairs and the shrieking portrait behind the curtain. It wasn't long until I had put two and two together and figured out where she was going. Of course, she couldn't have told me; the place was under the _Fidelus_ charm at the time. But I knew where she was going. It was enough then to know what had happened with Sirius and his inheritance. Turns out that he had a lot of time on his hands after his escape and he managed to clean up a great deal of the legal paperwork and when he was killed, the house was passed to his godson."

"Harry Potter?" Draco asked, nearly choking on a sip of whiskey. This time it was An who merely nodded. "Harry Potter owns Aunt Burgie's house?" he asked, his voice beginning to sound angry.

"Yes," An answered her nephew.

"Damn," Draco exhorted, shaking his head as he leaned back in his chair again. "Do me a favor will you?" Draco asked her when he looked up again. "Don't tell mum."

"All right," she agreed, unsure of just why he had made the request.

"She'd flip a switch if she knew that that house and all of the heirlooms in it had passed out of the family," he explained to her as though he could tell that she had been vexed by his asking.

"Harry assures me that my grandson will be the next to inherit it," An told her nephew, hoping that would bring him some comfort.

"Doesn't matter," Draco answered back. "You were properly disinherited," he reminded her, "so your grandson is no more a member of this family than Harry Potter himself is. Mother has enough on her mind," he added, "She doesn't need to hear about any of that."

"I'll keep it to myself," An assured him. "At least until we can be sure that the family tapestry can be taken down and brought to your house in Coventry." Draco nodded again.

"Thanks," he said, taking another sip from his glass.

"You are welcome, Draco," she answered. "You know your mother is very dear to me," she added.

"Yeah," he snickered back at her. "That's bloody obvious, isn't it?"

"Draco," she said back to him, "I…"

"Save it," he interrupted her. "You brought her sister's murderer here and now you're making my mother sit across the dinner table from her. It's really quite apparent how very much you are concerned with my mother's well being."

"Draco, I don't expect you to understand," she asserted.

"I understand just fine," he countered.

"No," she said back to him, "I don't think you do."

"Care to enlighten me then?" he challenged.

"It's…" Andromeda sighed and folded her hands in her lap. "It's complicated," she told him.

"No, it's really not," he disagreed. "Maybe it's complicated between you and my mother; maybe it's complicated between you and my father, seeing as the two of you are old friends. But I just met you today, and it's not at all complicated between you and me," he assured her. "It's very plain between you and me," he informed his aunt, "if you've come here out of spite or to gloat over Molly bloody Weasley's having killed my aunt Bella, or if you do anything at all to upset my mother, I'll kill you." He looked at her plainly, and Andromeda could tell that he was deadly serious. "Weasley's mum is getting a medal," he said plainly. "She's getting a bloody medal for 'ridding the Wizarding World of the threat that was Bellatrix Lestrange'. But no one has bothered to even thank my mother for saving Harry bloody Potter's stupid life in the forbidden forest. If it weren't for her, there wouldn't have been a final bloody battle," he explained, "and there wouldn't have been a chance for Weasley's mum or anybody else to have 'rid the world' of anyone." Andromeda frowned at her nephew; she had no idea what he was talking about. Had Narcissa really saved Harry Potter's life? This was something she would have to ask Harry or Cissy about some time in the future.

"I didn't know anything about that," she said to him. Draco sneered and nodded.

"Figured as much," Draco said back to her. He set down his glass on the little table adjacent to his seat and stood up. "And I mean it," he said to her. "Don't go making any heartfelt confessions that might upset my mother. Anything you need to say to her has likely waited eighteen years; it can wait a little longer, until this isn't so fresh." He shook his head and turned to go. "And dinner should be on the table in a minute," he added walking slowly but purposefully toward and out of the door.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Thanks to all of you who have been so patient in waiting for this chapter. And special thanks to Mrs. Lucia Malfoy for her concern. My recent poor health has begun to improve greatly and here I am writing some more. Once this one is finished Ihave at leats 2 more in my head- both things that have been inspired by/ suggested outright by PeevesthePoltergiest. Thanks for reading and I'll be around.

-MQ


	8. Sister? Sister

Dinner had been ridiculous even by Tonks standards. By Black standards Andromeda could judge the meal to have been preposterous and she could only imagine what the three Malfoys had thought of it. It was quite possibly the strangest meal Andromeda had ever eaten, although she had to admit that the individual components were at least rather tasty.

Molly Weasley, having no apparent clue as to what to do with Cornish game hens, has declared that there was no need to have five chickens for one meal. She had magically enlarged a single hen and put it on the table in the same pan it had been baked in; she also said that there was no need to dirty more dishes by adding serving pieces to the mix. Although the poached salmon in béarnaise made it to the table, the planned oyster stuffing came out as raw celery sticks; the only ingredient in the stuffing that Molly could easily identify as edible. The soup course was missing altogether, as was the amuse de foie gras. Molly had mentioned thinking that the chopped liver pate was 'awful fancy dig food', but had never thought that it might be intended for human consumption. A green salad of sorts did make it on to the table, but somehow without the raspberry balsamic vinaigrette that had been intended for it. Carrot soufflés became boiled carrots and Molly had found the ingredients for and concocted a Yorkshire pudding. They had eaten quickly and in near silence, Narcissa obviously trying her best not to let an unpleasant expression rest upon her face for too long at a stretch.

She had come to the table in exquisite navy and white taffeta robes and wearing a set of opal jewelry that Andromeda recognized as having belonged to their grandmother Rosier. She maintained her composure and had managed even a few civil comments to Molly. Dessert (cakes that had, thankfully, been made by the house elves earlier in the day) could not have come soon enough. Molly left the table presently to tend to dishes and cleaning, but had been beaten to the proverbial punch by the house elves. An wasn't sure just what Molly was planning to do for the rest of the night, but she never did turn back up in the dining room. The gentlemen had excused themselves to a game of backgammon (if they were to be believed) and very suddenly Andromeda had found herself alone at the table with her sister.

Narcissa seemed to come aware of this in a disturbing flash and immediately addressed her house elves. "We'll take our coffee in the south parlor," she told them before rising from the table and heading toward the door. She made no move to signal to Andromeda that she should follow, but An had guessed that was what was expected of her. She followed Cissy out of the dining room and down a series of semi dark corridors until they turned in to what she could only assume to be the south parlor.

The room was smaller than any of the others that An had seen in this castle and there was a large round window with window seat that took up most of one wall. The drapes and brocades of the upholstery were a strange hodgepodge of greens and purples and metallics that An found a little tacky and a little shocking. Coffee was waiting for them on silver tray atop a bronze colored velvet ottoman that sat before a pair of green ladies' parlor chairs. Narcissa seated herself on the window seat and appeared to be studying something at the far side of the lawn. Andromeda crossed to the coffee service and poured herself an abbreviated cup. "Coffee?" she offered to Narcissa by way of breaking the ice. Narcissa shook her head.

"No thank you," she answered. "I'm not sure my stomach could take a cup after that," she finished, referring to the abysmal dining experience they had just undergone. Andromeda nodded her head as she took a seat in one of the little green chairs. "Was that not the worst meal you've ever had?" she asked, turning finally to face her sister. An shook her head and chuckled.

"Not the worst," she said. "When I was first married," she told her, "one of the strangest things was learning how to cook. We ate a lot of burned toast and cold cereal in those days." Narcissa allowed herself a chuckle at that.

"I suppose that could be worse," she conceded. "Will you and Molly be staying the night?" Narcissa asked.

"I hadn't thought that far," An admitted.

"I only ask because we're leaving in the morning and I'd like to see to the staff," Narcissa informed her.

"You're leaving in the morning?" Anny asked her sister. Narcissa nodded.

"We're burying Severus Snape tomorrow," she said. "And the service for Vincent Crabbe is tomorrow night."

"So many funerals," An sighed. It was the truth. The war had cost all of them so much; it had been more than a week since the battle of Hogwarts and yet it was just now that most of the funerals were being sorted out. Funeral homes and morticians, florists, crematoria, and cemeteries were all working overtime to see to the dead from the war.

"Yes," Narcissa agreed, casting her eyes downward again. "Tomorrow is just the start," she added. "There's barely a family that hasn't lost someone."

"We put Molly's boy in the ground day before yesterday," An told her sister. Fred Weasley's funeral had been a Spartan affair at best, pitiful seemed a more fitting label. It had made her feel almost ashamed of the beautiful and opulent service that had been given for her daughter and son-in-law.

"Severus didn't have any family," Narcissa added. "And he was Draco's godfather, so we felt like we should take care of it."

"You've got a good heart, Cissy," An said to her little sister.

"No," Narcissa assured her. "I've been very lucky," she said. "My little family here has come through the war with very little damage," she shared. "Others have not been so fortunate. It was only right of me to do what I can."

"And I thank you again for what you did for us," An said to her.

"Don't bring it up again," Narcissa insisted. "It's of no consequence. We did it and it's done."

"All right," An agreed. She sighed heavily. "And I don't think that we'll be staying," she added to answer her sister's earlier question.

"Very well then," Narcissa said back, still never turning to look at her.

"Very well," An repeated, nodding her head as she sipped at her coffee. An uncomfortable silence descended on them almost instantly and Narcissa turned back to look out of the window. Andromeda drank her coffee in silence for a moment until she couldn't stand it anymore. She squared her jaw and looked over at her sister. "Did you really save Harry Potter's life?" she asked, a deep enough question to get them talking for real. Narcissa sniggered a bit at that.

"Did Harry Potter tell you that?" she asked, never turning from the window.

"Draco did," An shared with her sister. Narcissa nodded once and dropped her head.

"My son fancies me some sort of hero," she allowed. "But I assure you I have saved o one's life."

"If I ask Harry Potter is that what he's going to say?" An prodded.

"I wouldn't know," Narcissa replied, turning to face her sister.

"You could tell me what happened," Andromeda prodded. Narcissa sighed and stood from her seat. She crossed quickly to the ottoman and poured herself a cup of coffee. She sat in the chair opposite her sister and squared her shoulders.

"I did nothing so extraordinary as what Draco may have led you to believe," she answered. "I was told to see if he was alive," Narcissa explained, her hands tightly wrapped around her steaming cup of coffee. "He clearly was alive, and conscious, and I had need of some information. Harry Potter told me what I wanted to hear, so I lied to Lord Voldemort; told him Harry Potter was dead. The fact that Lord Voldemort had no inclination to cast a killing curse at the boy anyway has nothing to do with me. I did not save him."

"You made it possible for him to keep living, even if only for a few moments," An countered. "I'd say you saved his life. Your son has a point." Narcissa shut her eyes and shook her head.

"Is this really what you came here to discuss?" she snapped.

"I'm sorry if I offended you," An apologized sincerely. "What would you prefer to discuss?" she asked. Narcissa rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"How about my son," Narcissa replied coolly. "How about the reason that he's only met you this afternoon?"

"You're asking me why I never tried to see him?" An asked her.

"I'm asking why you were gone in the first place," Narcissa clarified. "I'm asking what drove you to take off the way that you did." Andromeda's jaw dropped. She was sure that everyone had known how come that had happened. An stood from her chair and took a few steps toward the window seat.

"You really don't know?" she asked Cissy, brushing a stray lock of hair off of her face.

"How could I?" Narcissa replied. "You never said anything to me," she added. "You never told anything to anyone. One day you were just gone and I had to guess what had become of you. Eventually mother and father got that damnable letter saying that you had married Ted Tonks and the next thing I knew mother was crying and aunt Burgie was blasting your name off of the family tree."

"But you never knew why?" An asked. Her head was spinning. She had been so certain that everyone had been able to puzzle it out by now. "You never knew why I married Ted when I did?"

"No, Anny," Narcissa reiterated, "I never did."

"Cissy," An said to her, turning to look her baby sister in the eye. "I thought that you would have figured it out," she shared. "I married Ted in July and Dora was born in February," she explained. "I was pregnant, Cissy,"

"No," Narcissa said back to her, shaking her head and staring into her coffee cup. "I didn't know that."

"Ted had proposed to me months before and I had held off on giving him an answer, but when we discovered I was pregnant I had to make a decision very quickly. I thought that mother and father would more easily forgive me for what they thought of as a bad marriage than an illegitimate grandchild."

"And you couldn't have said anything to anyone about it?" Narcissa asked her.

"I think I panicked," An confessed. "I had to just go with my heart. I couldn't do anything else."

"Perhaps not," Narcissa allowed.

"I loved him," An assured her sister as though the knowledge might offer her comfort. "I never regretted marrying him. And I loved my daughter," she added.

"You were happy then?" Narcissa asked, finally bringing her cup to her lips and taking a sip from it. An shrugged.

"Some of the time," she answered honestly, crossing back to her chair to sit. "I mean," she added, "it wasn't always easy, but it was more good than bad."

"Good," Narcissa stated. "And if it matters to you," she added, "I'd have come to your shameful little muggle wedding if you'd invited me to it." Cissy sniffed at that and quickly masked the moisture in her eyes by casting them into her coffee and having another sip.

"You'd have gotten yourself disowned if anyone had found you out," An reminded her little sister.

"I'd not have let that happen," Narcissa assured her.

"I almost came to your wedding," Andromeda confessed, pouring more coffee into her cup.

"You what?" Narcissa asked. An nodded her head.

"I'd kept in touch with Lucius," she told her sister. "He told me when you got engaged that he couldn't ever speak to me again, but we'd been writing before then. I knew when your wedding was going to be and I had this crazy idea of sneaking in to see it. My best friend was marrying my baby sister; I wanted to be there. If you had thought to look," An explained, "you were missing your second oboe."

"I beg your pardon?" Narcissa asked. An shook her head.

"In the ceremony orchestra," she explained. "The second oboe player had bronchitis. I had thought that I'd brew up some polyjuice potion and take his place. Unfortunately I couldn't manage to learn the music properly and the last thing I wanted was to spoil your wedding."

"It was a clever idea," Cissy congratulated her. "I would like to have seen you."

"Really?" An asked her. She'd never had any inclination that Cissy might have cared to see her over the years.

"Yes really," Narcissa replied. "Were you honestly under the impression that I wouldn't want to see you?" she asked. "Even after the way I received you today, is that still your impression? Is that why I never saw you? Is that why I never heard from you?"

"I put all of that behind me," An confessed to her sister. "But I did come to see you once," she added.

"Funny," Narcissa said back to her, shaking her head, "I don't remember that."

"You were in a coma," Andromeda informed her sister. She shook her head to try and clear her mind of the memory of how sick Cissy had been and how awful her mother and Bellatrix had behaved toward her that day.

"You came to the hospital?" Narcissa asked. Andromeda nodded.

"Mother and Bella threw me out," she answered.

"I had no idea," Narcissa sighed.

"Lucius escorted me from the building," she replied, "and I made him promise not to tell you that I had been there. I was afraid of what might happen and I didn't want to be a party to anything that might upset you."

"Thank you," Narcissa said quietly.

"Draco was so tiny," An recalled, allowing the tears that she had been fighting to come into her eyes.

"You saw him?" Cissy asked. An nodded her head again.

"I did," she replied. "He was beautiful," she commented, "but I was so afraid for him… and for you."

"I wish I had known," Narcissa said to her. "Mother did her best; but she was so overwhelmed with father's passing and selling the house… she was just in no shape. And Bella was already so obsessed with the cause and with Lord Voldemort," she began to sniffle and bit her lip. "Lucius was amazing, but it would have been nice for him to have someone to lean on."

"If I'd have known that you might have needed me…" An began, leaning forward and placing her hand on her sister's wrist.

"I appreciate that," Narcissa said back to her.

"I never meant to shut you out, Cissy," An assured her.

"And I'm not the one who disowned you," Narcissa replied.

"Can you forgive me?" An asked. It was a tall request, and she had prepared herself fully for the answer to be contrary to the one she was looking for. "Can you forgive me for leaving like I did?" she asked in turn. "I wasn't running away from you," she explained, "I was running toward something. I was young and scared and stupid," she added.

"I'm sure you were all of those things," Narcissa agreed. "And I would like to say that I forgive you for all of it. I'd like to say that I'm over it; past it. All of us have been through so much over the past year…" Narcissa shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "But I don't know that I can," she finished.

"Fair enough," An allowed. She knew that it had been a long shot to have her sister's forgiveness. In fact, she was still a little bit shocked at how well she'd been treated in the first place.

"But I think it's worth a try," Cissy declared, looking up from her coffee and into Andromeda's eyes. An felt a tear fall onto her cheek and her breath catch in her throat at her sister's words.

"Really?" An managed to ask. Narcissa nodded her head.

"I think that we've all lost too much to be giving anything up voluntarily," she answered with another sniffle. "I'd like to meet my great nephew," she asserted.

"I'd love that," An told Narcissa.

"You'll have to be careful, though," a teary eyed Narcissa warned her. "My husband is likely to spoil him completely." Andromeda smiled. In her youth she'd always imagined that she and Lucius would take turns being the favorite aunt or uncle to each other's children and she truly enjoyed the idea of him doting on little Teddy.

"I'll look out for that," An allowed, a chuckle in her voice.

"Ladies?" a soft and masculine voice called from the doorway. Narcissa and Andromeda turned their heads quickly to see who had addressed them.

"Well speak of the devil…" An declared when she saw Lucius in the doorway.

"Come in and join us, love," Narcissa invited him. "Anny and I were just discussing something that concerns you as well.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Forgive the long chapter? The two of them are just chatty- but they do have a lot to talk about. More soon (tonight or tomorrow) and then new story: either the fluff/angst in 1981 or the fluff/angst in 2000 or the fluff in 2019 (Lucius and Narcissa as grandparents). If you have a vote on that I'd love to hear it... more soon. :)

-MQ


	9. Family

"What is it that you wanted to discuss with me, pet?" Lucius asked his wife as he came fully into the little parlor and helped himself to a cup of coffee and several lumps of sugar. He was speaking to Narcissa, but his eyes never left his sister-in-law. An looked up at him, then down at where her hand still rested on Cissy's wrist, and then back again hoping to convey to him the meaning of the gesture and the good news that perhaps there would be a future in which they could be the family they used to fantasize about when they were still school children.

"Lucius," Narcissa addressed him as he went toward her and casually leaned against the back of her chair, "I'd like to have Anny and…" she paused for a moment, "Teddy?" she finished. An nodded her head to signal to her sister that she had indeed remembered the name of her great nephew correctly. Narcissa nodded back at her and then looked up again at her husband, "over for tea one afternoon," she continued, "do you think that the house will be ready by Friday?" Lucius smiled down at his wife and then looked for a moment ant Andromeda.

"I can't be sure," he answered, taking a sip from his cup of coffee, "but I'm certain that we can have a part of the house cleaned up properly to receive guests."

"Cissy," An spoke up, leaning back in her chair as well, "there is no need to ready the house for me," she insisted, "I honestly don't care what condition the manor is in."

"I'm not sure you understand, Anny," Lucius shared with her. "I'm afraid that the manor sustained some heavy damage during the late unpleasantness," he explained, and we've had to undertake some rather extensive renovations."

"Oh, that's awful," An near exclaimed. She hadn't meant to raise her voice as much as she had, but the pained look on her brother-in-law's face told her that perhaps the house was a more serious matter than she might have thought. "How bad, Lucius?" she asked him. Lucius cast his eyes in to his coffee and sighed softly.

"Do you remember the statuary hall?" he asked her. An nodded her head; she certainly did remember that room. It was Lucius' least favorite part of the house he had grown up in, but their group of friends had found use for it when they were younger. The place had been lined from end to end with marble busts of every Malfoy who had lived there, and several who had only been by visiting; each built on a slightly larger scale than the last, making the room a near maze of annoying, chatty, pompous marble statues and a perfect place for a bunch of eleven-year-olds to stage a wand battle.

"The room where we used to play jinx tag?" An answered in the affirmative. Lucius nodded his head and smiled. Obviously he remembered that, too. Andromeda wondered for a moment if he still remembered that she used to beat him regularly at that particular game.

"That's the one," he confirmed. "It's gone," he told her. An felt her mouth fall open.

"Gone?" she asked, as though his having said it once hadn't been enough to get it across.

"Not a statue left in it," Lucius told her. "Most of the windows blasted out, too." An bit her lip. That really was awful.

"At least they finally stopped talking," she offered by way of injecting a little bit of levity, "they did stop talking, didn't they?". Lucius chuckled at her comment.

"That they did," he affirmed. "And we're putting in a winter garden," he told her.

"It's going to be quite lovely," Narcissa added, smiling sincerely up at her husband.

"That it is, dear," he replied, reaching down to take her hand.

"But with that and replacing the chandelier in the drawing room and getting the rugs cleaned…" Narcissa began to frown as she started rattling off the litany of repairs to be done to her home.

"We'll get it all done, Cissa," Lucius comforted his wife with a squeeze of her hand.

"I know we will," she said back to him. Narcissa wrinkled her forehead for an instant and then looked over at her sister again. "The question is when," she added, "I'd like to have company."

"The drawing room's finished," Draco's voice called from the doorway. All three of them turned their heads abruptly to face the new arrival.

"What did you say?" Narcissa asked her son. Draco was grinning as he came farther into the room.

"The drawing room is finished," he repeated himself. "The new chandelier has been hung, the carpets have been cleaned, the cracked mantelpiece has been replaced, the broken leg on the settee has been replaced and all of the chairs have been reupholstered."

"Draco!" Narcissa exhorted. "Are you serious?"

"Quite serious, mother," he answered her. "I handled it," he informed her.

"Did you really?" It was obvious to Andromeda just how surprised her sister was and how proud her nephew was to be imparting this information.

"I did," Draco affirmed. "Also," he added, "the floors in the entrance hall have all been polished, the candlesticks in the dining room have been replaced, the walls are finished in the winter garden and the tiles will be laid tomorrow while we're at Hogwarts."

"You've been busy, Draco," An said to her nephew. Lucius was smiling broadly at his son and Cissy seemed as though she was about to cry at the news. Draco, for his part, shrugged his shoulders, with a look on his face that was almost smug he was so proud. Andromeda had to allow herself a tiny chuckle; as though he hadn't already seemed the spitting image of Lucius at that age, this smug expression was further proof that Draco was his father's son through and through.

"He does take after his father," Narcissa commented. It was as though she had read her sister's mind.

"It does strike me as something that Lucius would do," An agreed.

"Well, if that's the case," Lucius said to the women, "then I'd say that yes the house should be ready to receive guests by the end of the week."

"Excellent," Narcissa stated, looking from her son to her husband and then to her sister. "Can you come for tea on Friday?" she asked. An nodded.

"I'm sure I can," she answered. Andromeda felt her breath catching in her throat as she accepted her sister's invitation. How many years had she lay awake and wondered if this could ever happen? She hated that it had taken a war and all of its accompanying tragedies to bring them to this point, but as much as she found this moment unbelievable, she was more grateful than she had ever been for anything that it had come.

"And be sure to bring the baby with you," Narcissa insisted. "I really do want to see him."

"You're sure?" An asked. It had occurred to her briefly when Cissy had first mentioned having them visit that her very proper little sister mightn't take to well to a three month old infant with turquoise and magenta hair who occasionally changes his nose into that of whatever person or animal he's looking at. "You know he's still very young," she explained, "and a metamorphmagus that age is hard to predict."

"A metamorphmagus?" Lucius asked her, "like his mother?" Anny nodded.

"Yes," she answered him, trying her best to hold on to her smile at the mention of Nymphadora. "He looks almost exactly like she did as a baby. He's got his father's eyes, but every other inch of him is Dora."

"And your daughter had your nose and chin, but didn't look a lick like you otherwise," Narcissa recalled. Andromeda nodded her head at that. Nymphadora, when not making her face into something entirely unnatural, looked so much like Ted from the day she was born that Andromeda had been almost jealous at times. "Which is precisely how it happened with us," she added. "Draco has looked exactly like Lucius, save his nose and his chin, since the moment I first clapped eyes on him."

"There is nothing wrong with a boy looking like his father," Lucius defended jovially. Draco rolled his eyes and shook his head at his father's comment.

"I've got mother's hands," Draco commented. "And grandmother's chin."

"That's the Rosier chin," Andromeda told her nephew. "As you can see, you're not the only one in the room who's got it." Draco nodded. "And, of course, "Andromeda added, "It doesn't hurt at all that your father is a good looking man. It's no liability to you that you resemble him so greatly."

"No," Narcissa agreed with her sister, "that it does not."

"My daughter, on the other hand," An continued, "Had her father's unfortunate jaw line."

"She was a pretty girl, Anny," Narcissa said in an obvious attempt to offer some comfort. "And I'm sure that her son is just as beautiful." An sighed. She couldn't believe her ears. Had Narcissa really just said that? She shook her head and sighed.

"Speaking of which," An said to the others, "I should probably be getting back home. Teddy's godfather has him for the evening, and I fear that he may be beginning to wonder what's become of me."

"All right," Narcissa said to her as they both rose from their chairs. "But you will be by Friday?"

"Yes, An," Lucius added, "I insist." He moved to take her hand, which she gladly offered to him.

"Is tea time in Malfoy manor still at four thirty?" she asked. Lucius nodded.

"It is," he affirmed.

"We'll be there," she promised. Andromeda leaned in and kissed her sister's cheeks, one and then the other; a gesture which Narcissa reciprocated. Lucius took her hand again and kissed the back of it. An wrinkled her nose at him and rolled her eyes. "Since when do you kiss my hand?" she joked with her old friend. Used to they would either hug or punch each other in parting, sometimes both, and sometimes they would only embrace each other as a ruse to get close enough to play a prank on the other one (he would often untie her sash and once she had used a hug to tie the tails of his tux coat in a knot with her wand).

"Since your sister civilized me, I suppose," Lucius answered her, grinning from ear to ear as he slid an arm around Narcissa's waist.

"Well done, Cissy," Andromeda congratulated her sister. "Well done," she repeated. Anny had always wondered what kind of settling influence her sweet and calm little sister might have had on her unruly schoolmate, but until just this moment she never really thought that the chance would come for her to know firsthand. She turned and looked at her nephew. "And it was lovely to meet you, Draco," she said to him. That was truth if she'd ever spoken it. She had seen him only once before; when he was twenty five days old and weighed less than five pounds. There was something wonderful about seeing him as he was now; a full grown man, and two inches taller than she was.

"Nice to meet you too," Draco said back to her tentatively. She could tell that he had only said so as the proper reply to what she had said to him, and not because he really meant it. Andromeda could only hope that these relationships would continue to mend until a day came when he could be glad that they were kin.

"Molly's out in the arbor," Lucius told her. A glance out the window made Andromeda suddenly aware that the rain had stopped. In fact, she wasn't altogether sure when the rain had let up, but she was sure enough now that Molly had gone to say her piece to her departed elder sister.

"I'll just go and fetch her then," An said in parting, taking her first step toward the door. "I'll see you all on Friday," she added just as her hand was on the doorknob.

"Friday," Narcissa reiterated. An passed through the door from the little parlor and into the hallway and sighed heavily as she did. What a day! Now it was time to find Molly and go home.

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Last chapter tomorrow or the next day and then time for the new story... still not sure which one gets written next- but I'll make a decision at some point. Thanks for reviews (both for those I've alredy gotten and those to come) Cheers!

-MQ


	10. Future

Molly was exactly where Andromeda had figured she might be. She had her fist raised above her head in a gesture indicative of just how animated a conversation she was having with the recently deceased Bellatrix. An had half a mind to call out to Molly, or to send over a Patronus; anything that might spare her friend any embarrassment that might come from An's having intruded upon her very passionate moment.

But it seemed as though Molly was aware of her presence before she even reached the little gate leading into the family plot. The older woman turned and smiled at Anny, then pulled her wand from her skirt pocket and used it to push open the gate. She seated herself on one of the little stone benches that lined the grave site and folded her hands in her lap as Anny approached. "How are you?" An asked Molly as she passed through the gate and moved to sit on the bench next to her friend.

"I should be the one asking you that," Molly replied. She scooted over to let An sit beside her as they both allowed their gaze to fall on the black marble obelisk that marked the burial place of Bellatrix Black Lestrange.

"I can say that I'm better than we might have expected, " An replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"Cissy looked awful," Molly commented, squaring her jaw and shaking her head.

"You think so?" An asked. Personally, she had thought that Narcissa looked ten years younger than she actually was, and as happy as she ever could have been. It surprised Andromeda that Molly thought otherwise.

"She had a place on her cheek that looked barely healed," Molly commented, "Do you think that Malfoy…?" An was sure that she knew what Molly was implying, but she knew just as surely that that could not have been the case.

"Oh no," An answered her friend. "I'm sure it's nothing like that," she assured her. "Lucius wouldn't lay a hand on her," she affirmed. She meant that. Lucius could be as cold and as brutal an individual as Andromeda had ever met, but she was as sure as she had ever been of anything that Lucius would never have raised a hand to her sister in anger. "I think that Voldemort did that," she asserted. It was safe to assume that any damage done to the Malfoys persons would have been the result of the same individual's wrath that had caused the damage to their home.

"But I thought…" Molly countered. An shrugged her shoulders and looked up at Molly. "I mean..." Molly shook her head and frowned. "They were fighting on his side," she finished.

"I thought so too," she admitted. "But from what I was able to tell just now, they were no more on his side by the end of things than we were. He destroyed their house," she imparted, "they're having to have all manner of work done on the place as a result. And I think he may have done a number on the both of them. You noticed a place on Cissy's cheek," Anny added, "but did you notice Lucius' left eye?" Molly shook her head. "It looks as though he got hit pretty hard and wasn't able to get proper healing for it. Now, if there is one thing that I know about Malfoys it's that they can afford anything that they might want, much less anything that they need and they will not hesitate to spend any amount of money on either occasion. Now, the way I figure it," she surmised, "there is nothing in heaven or on earth that would keep Lucius from getting medical attention if something was causing him pain. That man has the lowest pain threshold of anyone I've ever known. And I'd double that if it was something that he thought might look unsightly; he's also the vainest human being I've ever had the privilege to know. And I'd double that over again if anything had happened to Cissy; I've seen him when she wasn't well and it about to drove him off his rocker. But, if something happened to either one of them at the hands of Lord Voldemort then they may not have had the opportunity to seek medical help."

"I will say that I didn't see either one of them until the fighting was over," Molly admitted, wringing her hands in her lap.

"Did Harry Potter say anything about Cissy to you?" An asked. She had only met the Boy Who Lived a few times, and had never had much in the way of a deep conversation with him. What she did know of the young man whom her son-in-law had named godfather to her infant grandson was that he was closer to the Weasley family than to anyone else in the world.

"No, not to me," Molly answered. "But Ronald had a few choice words about the whole family when he heard I was coming here with you and Harry did tell him to can it." Molly pulled her cloak tighter around her throat and signaled that she was ready to leave the garden and the estate. "Why?" she asked her friend as the two of them passed through the garden gate toward the edge of the property and the place where it was acceptable to Apparate from. "_Should _Harry Potter have said anything to me about Cissy?"

"Draco told me that she saved his life," Anny told her friend. "And Cissy doesn't deny it," she added, "although she'll take no credit for it whatsoever."

"I suppose Harry will tell us about it when he's good and ready," Molly said back to her, patting her friend's hand with her own. "He's not really wanted to talk about anything," she added. "He's been through a lot."

"We all have," An reminded Molly as her eyes went back to the gate they had just passed through and toward the polished black marble headstone that marked her eldest sister's final resting place.

"Yes, that's true," Molly agreed, patting Andromeda on the shoulder and urging her to continue in the direction that they were heading.

"There are a lot of bridges that need rebuilding," An posited.

"And do you think it's worth it?" Molly asked, narrowing her eyes at Andromeda as the two of them reached the end of the path and the large wrought iron gate that marked the boundary to the castle property.

"When all is said and done," An answered, "I'd say I'll never voluntarily give up family again. There's not a bridge I've left too far behind to try to mend now. My best friend married my baby sister twenty odd years ago and finally we get to be a family."

"Well, you've got your answer then," Molly said back to her, smiling.

She did at that.

FIN

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Short chapter: almost an epilogue. There will be more... sorry this chapter took so long to post. Life gets icky at the holidays- darn that real life! I think that I will simultaneously do the 1981 piece in which Lucius gets arrested as a Death Eater, Narcissa gets her first taste of high stakes political intrigue, and Draco is the cutest little baby ever to throw a potato at an Auror AND the piece in 2001 (IIRC) in which we learn who the heck Astoria Greengrass is and just why Draco marries her as well as the reaction that friends and family have to the whole dirty business... that's the plan. And a random Star Wars story popped out of my fingers today too... random! Please review and I'll be back for more soon :)

-MQ


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